Adieu, Pacifica: Chrysler Closing Design Studio

Andy - the Pacifica is all Dodge minivan underneath, the engine points side-to-side, you can get a FWD version, etc. If there’s any E-class it’s minimal.

Private-equity and venture funding is a mixed bag, few are really in it for the long haul.

DanDetroit - yes, the article referenced the design center, but the comments soon went off in another direction.

In regards to the now-cancelled Pacifica (not the design studio in this article) if Chrysler could re-invent and re-introduce it now, in the era of the “Cross-over”, it might actually sell. Except the gas mileage was awful. I had a rental Pacifica for a time and I only got about 14 mpg around town in it (without abusing it). Very comfortable vehicle though. And it had last-generation E-class chassis underneath, so it drove well too.

It seems like the new Chrysler management is cleaning up the mess left by the “Merger of Equals” and the excesses brought on by years of successful truck and SUV sales. Ford needs some help too, if any other venture capitalists are listening.

Interesting how many commenters do not read the article, but have passionate opinions about it anyway! The article is about the Design Center in CA, not the vehicle or its marketing, and says they are consolidating design at their HQ in Auburn Hills, MI in a fairly clear manner.

Thor - looks aren’t everything. The Pacifica is mechanically and in platform a chop-top Caravan. It doesn’t matter much what it looks like, it’s still basically a front-drive minivan platform.

The R-class is a far different and infinitely better vehicle.

I hope the ten R63s they sold in the US have crappy resale value, ’cause I’m gonna find one sooner or later.

Xjug: I hope it was only the guilty ones that lost their jobs, they really deserved to. Do you know who was the ringleader that came up with that lamest of the lame idea?

It’s not rage, I just can’t stand that lame-o Dion, esp. when she makes those gestures and faces that she falsely believes are “cute” or funny, and they sure aren’t. Emaciated body and brain-wise.

BAck to the Pacifica, I understand why the owners may have liked them. It even looks far better than the other heavy 6-seater in 3 rows, the R-class. BTW, even if the R-class is M-class based, its dimensions and weight are far, far c,oser to the pacifica’s.

Exterior-wise the Pacifica looks good. Due to its obese weight and long wheelbase, it should also be comfortable on long trips. But I have not seen the interior, and don’t know if two grown-up six-footers can really fit in the third row.

But now with $4 gas just around the corner, how many Pacifica owners will still be glad to pay the fuel bills?

Thor: Everyone involved with that campaign lost their jobs, and perhaps rightly so. Great, creative and a unique concept the Pacifica, but again, a blown Mktg job destined it for ruin. Wonder if it had an H or T on the front if it would sell better? Problem is I’ll bet most owners really like their Pacificas. Man you’ve got such rage!

“Remember Celine Dion “We drove all night”? Brilliant message for tired parents hauling kids around… NOT!”

This was worse than I thought!

When Chrysler, in its extreme stupidity and lunacy, gave that pathetic lame-ass singer $13 million to tell us to drive cars she knows NOTHING about, andn would not know even if if she tried, I thought THIS was the most idiotic move in Car advertising.

It is bad enough when morons buy an overpriced sneaker because Michael Jordan or some other well-paid sports star touts it on TV (at least Jordan KNEW SOMETHING about what a sneaker should be)

But when you hire DION of all 6,000,000,000 people on this planet, the LEAST approproate of the 6 billion, and even give her the full $13 million DESPITE the HORRIBLE results of her FAILED campaign (that was abruptly and deservedly cut early),

then I have to question whether the morons that decided this have even a SINGLE digit IQ, let alone Double!

I buy nothing but Chrysler products. The Pacifica design studio came up with a ton of great concepts over the years that became great sellers for chrysler and dodge. I hope they took the most talented people out of there and moved them to Auburn. Who knows.
I’m sick of hearing hearing the new owners talk about being competitive in the global market. Yeah, yeah, how about being competitve in the US first, getting back on your feet then worring about the rest of the world?
I do agree with getting rid of all their weird models. The Compass isn’t a Jeep and can go. The Sebring is strange looking. The Avenger has no identity of it’s own. The Magnum is an awesome wagon and no one has anything like it, yet the dolts are going to dump it. Dodge is supposed to be Chrysler’s performance/econo division. The PT cruiser should have been a Dodge.
Chrysler should only make high end luxury cars like Caddy does and quit messing around with cheap crap. Chryslers should be their flagship vehicles with power and grace exclusively. Let Dodge have all the fast fun stuff.
Chrysler doesn’t know what it wants to be anymore.

Since retro is in, the K-car should be brought back….oh, yeah, baby! Those sexy boxy lines and sagging rear ends!

Gee, was THAT car design from Pacifica Studios?

billyjoejimbob: Daimler-Benz was operating under the mistaken theory that Chrysler was some kind of premium nameplate when the Pacifica and the Crossfire went to the showrooms, and it’s still my belief that when they discovered the market wouldn’t support their pricing aspirations for Chrysler product they panicked and decided to unwind the whole thing right then.

As for Nardelli and the present operation, California is a ridiculously expensive place to do business and perhaps it doesn’t make sense to have a design house out here, but I still have low expectations for the future of that outfit.